I had heard good things about this so decided to give it a watch. I remember the AIDS epidemic as a child growing up and I remember it always being stressed that it affected heterosexuals as well as homosexuals - so it was surprising to me to learn from this series how the gay community was stigmatised in the beginning. It did open my eyes to what it must have been like, before the virus was identified, and how frightening it was to not know what was happening to people. However, we did clearly move on from this and I think perhaps this drama does concentrate a little too much on the impact on just the gay community and portrays a strange, alternate reality where every single one of the younger male generation is gay. The main female character is, by contrast, portrayed as basically asexual, is only friends with gay men and never has a sexual relationship of her own!
I loved Callum Scott Cowell's portrayal of "Gladys" - he moved me to tears. I think the rest of the male cast were a little OTT (especially Roscoe) and reinforced rather than challenged gay stereotypes (and the parents of Ritchie were also very predictably conventional). I felt the graphic, gratuitous sex was unnecessary and, again, doesn't help change attitudes as it perpetuates the idea that most gay men are just a bunch of rutting animals.
SPOILER HERE: I didn't quite understand at the end why Jill and Roscoe didn't do more to see Ritchie than just keep ringing his house.
And the final "moral" that the story left us with i.e. that Ritchie's mum was completely to blame because of the "shame" he constantly felt, just didn't hit the right note for me, especially after all the shameless behaviour and Ritchie's admission that he knew he was infecting people and carried on regardless. It also felt like a very contrived speech to me and not a genuine one. I have given this 5 stars as I have mixed feelings about it. There were parts that were brilliant but I think a subtler approach, characters with more dimension, and a more empathetic lead would have made it much better.
Review of It's a Sin
